As the disciples left the Essene Quarter in secret,
they traveled eastward and down the slopes MountZion.
Here they walked along a paved walkway, today called today the Maccabean
Path that traversed to the side of the palatial residence of the
high priest, and looked to the doormen that guarded the gate
to the outer court. The Rabbi turned to his disciples and
said:

First Century
“Maccabean Footpath” going down the slopes of Mount Zion past the Palace of
Ananus the Elder into the Kidron Valley – Photo by Robert Mock

Mark 14:27 – “All of you will
be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is
written: I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be
scattered.”

Simon bar Jonah quickly and assuredly piped up:

Mark 14:29 – “‘Even if
all are made to stumble, yet I will not be.’ And Jesus said
to him, ‘Assuredly, I say to you that today, even this night,
before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.’”

Looking back toward the walls surrounding the mikvah
baths of the high priests, Peter and the murmuring
disciplesheaded down the slopes of Zion on the Maccabean
footpath into the Kidron Valley below, protesting, “If I
have to die with You, I will not deny You!”

There they crossed over the Kidron Brook and up
the slopes of the Mount called Olives. The Passover moon was full
and shining with all its glory. The surrounding hills and
valleys dotted with pilgrim tents were now hushed with silence.
There on the eastern side of the mount, Yehoshua and His disciples
headed towards the fruitful garden district on Mount of Olives.
With the moon as their guide, they passed by the tall
spiraling cypress groves, that surrounded the gardens of the rich,
nodding in pious reverence for this special evening.

Soon they neared the village
of Geshemonim (Gethsemane).Yehoshuaturned and with slowing
footsteps, as if entering sacred ground, led them into a narrow
path leading to the garden of the olive oil wine pressers called the
Garden of Gat Shemen. With cypresses
overshadowing a garden of olive trees, it was here many nights
they had rested together under the starry heavens. Somehow tonight,
their Master was strangely quiet as though a great sorrow was being
cast upon His countenance.

The Garden of Gethsemane where Rabbi
Yehoshua was Arrested – Photo by
Robert Mock

Throughout the months, He appeared to bask
in the majesty of His Father’s presence. Now it appeared
that the glory of His Father’s presence was being withdrawn.
They noticed a sadness and sorrow that they dared not
penetrate. As they sought for a place for their Master to rest,
they could sense His countenance was weighed down with a great
burden.He staggered on, beyond where they were lay. With
the nod of his head, He beckoned the three closest confidants,
Peter, James, and John to come further with Him to a secluded
corner. With expectations, they knew not what would transpire
in the hours ahead.

The Pathway
Yehoshua and His Three Entrusted Disciples entered into the Garden of Aguish
and Prayer where Yehoshua poured out His Heart to His Father in heaven – Photo by Robert Mock

Did not these three disciples witness the glorious transfiguration of their Masterwhen He
received the heavenly delegation from His Father in heaven. Did
He not commune with the greatest of the prophets, Eliahu HaNavi (Elijah the Prophet) and the revered
lawgiver at Sinai, Moshe Rabbeinu
(Moses our Holy Master or Teacher)? Did they not listen to
the voice of the Father in affirmation for His Son? Now Yehoshua
asked them only one request,

With the shadows of the moonlight dancing with
the reflections of the leaves of the majestic olive trees, He struggled
further ahead and collapsed upon the green grassy carpet below.
The shadows of the night began to close in around Him. The weight
of the sins of His people and all those of the entire
world began to bear down upon Him. There in the agony of the
garden, in His own selected spot, He poured out His soul in
anguish. As Yehoshua confronted the protecting force of His
Father withdrawing back into heaven, He now came face to face
with satanic evil.

Dominus Flevit Chapel Overlooking the Temple
Mount at the reputed Site of the Rock where Jesus Wept – Photo by Robert Mock

Was this notHis mission, to break the
bondage of the prison of sin that HaSatan (Satan) and the forces
of darkness had surrounded mankind on earth and separated
them from their Heavenly Father? Was He not an alien in this
world of darkness, where the last flicker of light was burning
in the hearts of minds of the remnant of His chosen people,
the Jews. Yes, because He was the Sefirot, the Image
of His Father, the Master Creator of the Universe and the prism
of God’s glory.

This was not a battle for Jewish
nationalism. This was a battle for the entire planet. This
was the battle for the entire universe.Satan was pacing
this planet like a “roaring” overlord
and now the control of this planet was being contested by the very
“Son of the Father in heaven”, Adam Kadman, the archetypical heavenly
Adam, who was the “Image of the Father” that was transferred in
the creation vortex to the earthling red man, “Adam”.

The Site of the Spring
Grass and Flowers that Yehshua Clutched in Agony in the Garden of Prayer – Photo by Robert Mock

For months,Yehoshua was been in intercession
for His people. Now He was longing for someone to intercede
for Him. He did not fear His divinity, where He was “The
Vine” (de-vine) in His Father’s vineyard. He did fear for
His humanity, that He could not handle the agony of the pain,
suffering, and torture that would soon be His to bear. He feared
more as He perceived the loveand agony of His Father
in heaven slowly withdrawing away from His presence.

In the wilderness, He was the conqueror
against the temptations of HaSatan. Now, He would have to meet Satan
again for the final contest. Three years were in preparation
for this moment of time.If Yehoshua would succeed in fulfilling
His mission played out for one and a half millenniums in the spring
yearly dramatic acts in the festivals of the Hebrews, the power
of Satan would be broken. If He could conquer the final
test, the path of guela (redemption) would begin as the kingdom
of Satan would start to crumble to its final demise. It
would take two thousand years, for Satan’s kingdom to finally
unravel, but the pathway for the ultimate destruction of all the
forces of darkness would be assured.

In agony, he clutched the cold dew forming on the flowers
and the grass in the garden. The chill of the night began to
pierce His own bones as He clung to the ground. It appeared that
He feared to be taken further away from the Presence of His
Father. Here He felt in all its agony the price that
would have to be paid for the salvation of even one soul. With
the cry of anguish, He cried out:

The Garden of Gat Shemem where Yehoshua
Prayed with the Temple Mount Beyond
– Photo by Robert Mock

Mark 14:36 – “Abba,
Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup
away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You
will.”

As the darkness overshadowed Yehoshua, the magnitude
and malignancy of sin almost overwhelmed Him. The temptation
as He was starving in the wilderness was nothing compared
to the temptation to abandon the plan of salvation that had been instituted
in the Council in heaven before the foundation of the creation
of this planet.

How easy it would have been to abandon this
passage “through the valley of the shadow of death” and let the
human race bear alone the consequences of their own sin and guilt.
The gulf was so great that not even the greatest of the
tzaddiks (righteous) of the sages of Judah could penetrate
the cloak of evil of satanic oppression. Here was divine
intervention working in perfect harmony and coordination between Father
and Son. Here was the “Angel before the Presence of the Almighty One”,
on the verge of breaking the bondage of satanic oppression
in order to bring the salvation of His heavenly Father through His
Sefirot (Image); first toHis “chosen ones”, then to the
“lost ones” and finally to the rest of the goyim (gentiles)
of the nations. The sin and the curse of Adam’s original sin,
along with their forefather’s sins being placed upon their sons,
and sons, and sons, all bore down upon Yehoshua as He
knelt in agony on the frigid dampness of the new blades of
the spring grass at Gethsemane.

Dominus Flevit Chapel Apse Window,
overlooking the Temple Mount, on the Site reputed to be the Rock where Jesus
Wept at the Garden of Gat Shemen –
Photo by Robert Mock

On the western slopes of the Mount of Olives
are today, the traditional site of the Garden of Gethsemane
and the site of the rock outcropping where Jesus wept.
The apse window, in the famed teardrop chapel, called the Dominus Flevit Chapel (“The Lord Wept”) is the
reputed site where Yehoshua wept in agony.Today,
this is one of the most photogenic sights in Jerusalem;
looking out from the apse window overlooking the Temple Mount.
Built by the Italian architect, Antonio Barluzzi in 1955,
it was erected over the 7th century chapel in which part
of the original apse was preserved in the new chapel. The mosaic
flooring on the outside of the chapel was preserved in-site
from a 5th century monastery.

Nearby is the intact tomb site, now famous
for its ossuaries in the documentary about the “Tomb of
Talpot”. It was featured in the Discover Channel expose on
February 2007, about the purported “Tomb of Jesus and Miriamne” that
was discovered in March 1980.

Across the street is the “Church
of All Nations” which also purports to be build over
the rock where Jesus prayed in His night of agony. The 4th
century basilica that was built on this site was destroyed in
747 CE in an earthquake. The Christian Catholic Crusaders
rebuilt a new basilica, this time aligned over three rock
outcroppings representing the three different prayers of supplication
by Yehoshua in the Garden. Erected in 1170 CE, it later fell
in disuse in the Islamic era about 1345 CE.

First Century Tombs at Gat Shemen – Photo by Robert Mock

It was not until the 20th century that the
present church was built by the architectural design of the same
Italian Antonio Barluzzi, who later constructed the Domineus
Flevit Chapel. The Church of All Nations was constructed in 1924
with the financial support of twelve nations featured on its twelve
domes with the coat of arms from each nation. In the very
center of the nave is found the rock outcropping of the Byzantine
Church that is enclosed in a wrought-iron crown-of-thorns.

On the center mosaic in the apse, is the representation
of the agony of Christ. The side murals represent the arrest
and traitorous kiss of Judas. On the mural over the frontal
pediment are the gold-gilded depictions of the agony of the
Master. To the south of the church in the courtyard area are
ancient olive trees of unknown antiquity.

For the disciples,
the evening, after the Supper on the Upper Terrace of the Home,
wasexpected to
be a non-event. The Passover for the Hillel disciples,
according to Hillel’s ancient interpretations of the Torah commands for
the Passover festival was now over. Most of the disciples of
Hillel were now closely affiliated with the oppositional sect
of the Essenes, with the disciples of the former Av Beis Din
(“Father of the Court”) of the Sanhedrin (30-20CE), Menahem the
Essene.

The Church of
all Nations at the Site of the Garden of Gethsemane – Photo by Robert Mock

Yet, the vast majority of the Jews were preparing
for the Passover Seder meal with the Korban lamb to be held according
to “sunrise
reckoning” of the Sadducee’s Temple
calendar, twenty four hours later.

Yet, to please the large number of pilgrims
from the Babylonian Diaspora and the Roman Empire, the Pharisee
disciples of Shammai the Elder, held also a Double Passover,
that is a third Passover Seder according to the “sunset reckoning”, another twenty four hour
after that on the evening after the 15th of Nisan, or the eve
of the 16th day.

While Jerusalem was awaiting another celebration
of the springtime Pesach festival, Yehoshua was in midst of a
cosmic battle with HaSatan himself. To Yehoshua, the cosmic
balance in the warring battles between the forces of light
and the forces of darkness would make the unfolding hours ahead seal
the fate of not only the inhabitants on this planet earth but all
the created hosts of the universe. It would also affect the spiritual
realms of the heavens from the mighty archangels; Raziel, Zaphkiel,
Zadkeil, to Michael,
the “Crown Messiah of the Tiferet in the Sefirot of the
World of the Divine.

The Eastern Gate on the Temple Mount seen
from the Olive Garden to the South of the Church of All Nations – Photo by Robert Mock

Was it not the Archangel Samael, who once
stood on the right hand of the Father, enthroned over the four
mighty Cherubim, who went to war with the Almighty One of Israel?
Was not Samael, the rebel archangel, whose rebellion collapsed the
Sefirot of Creation that the Almighty One has been repairing and
redeeming ever since? Did not this archangel become the “angel
of Esau” that fought their Patriarch Yacov (Jacob) in the midnight
struggle as he awaited meeting his brother, Esau and has now
become the “angel of Edom (Rome)”?

“Sin” was not an earthling affair. It was a
rebellion that started in the heavens next to the throne of God.
It was not a war of this solar system but had already taken
down a third of the angelic forces in the spiritual dominions.
Yet, it was on this planet earth, on the one piece of terrestrial
soil that HaShem (God of Israel) called His own, Jerusalem,
that the Ein Sof, the Unseen God of the Universes, sent His
Son to confront HaSatan and the spiritual forces of evil and
darkness.

The Church of
All Nations at the Garden of Gethsemane – Photo by Robert Mock

The prophetic voice of the Essenes had been predicting
this conflict for almost two centuries. The master of the true
Kabbalah, Menahem
the Essene was the esteemed Hillel the Great’s Av Beis Din (“Father
of the Court”) in the Sanhedrin between 30 and 20 BCE. He and
70 of his disciples and 70 of the disciples of Hillel the Great fled
to the wilderness and Damascus. Their voices and apocalyptic
messianic visions had been marginalize until the “Voice of One
crying in the Wilderness” brought the inter-dimensional struggle for
the soul of man back to the center stage of Jewish
consciousness in 26 CE.

For a second time, Yehoshua struggled back to
the place where He asked His disciples to pray with Him. “He came
and found them sleeping.” Had they spent their night in
supplication and prayer, the forces of fear may not have swept
them away in the next few hours. In the paralysis of their fear,
they comprehended little of what is meant to be watchful in
prayer in order to withstand temptation. Now He called out to
Simon bar Jonah:

Mark 14:37-38 (parts) – “Simon, are you sleeping?
Could you not watch one hour?Watch and pray, lest you enter
into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is
weak.”

The Largest of the Ancient Oak Trees in the
Garden of Gat Shemen (Gethsemane) –
Photo by Robert Mock

This is a reminder to the chosen remnant of the
“saints” that will go through the final tribulations at the time
of the end, when a new age of spiritual reality will emerge. The
struggle of the Masterstands in stark contrast when compared
to the temptation of spiritual slumber of the disciples. It leaves
us a reminder of His warning earlier to them, “All
of you will be offended because of Me this very night.”
Yet, without reproof, He returned back to His place of agony
and prayer.

The great
loneliness of the Son, knowing that His Father was withdrawing
back into the heavens, was a source of great agony to the point
that “His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down
to the ground.” In the silence the olive treeswitnessed
that the final moment had come to decide the destiny of the
whole world. The fate of all humanity hung upon Yehoshua’s
decision in the garden. Yet, with trembling hands, clutching the
ground, He resigned Himself to His Father in heaven,

The Eastern Gate
seen from the Garden of Gethsemane – Islamic cemetery blocking the Entrance – Photo by Robert Mock

Three times, Yehoshua confronted His Father, begging
to be relieved of the impending frontal assault by the satanic
forces now in control of the high priests in Jerusalem. Caiphas and
Ananus, their temple leaders, sought to protect their economic
nest of corruption. Three times the angelic forceslistened
with baited breath for the decision of their Commander of the heavenly
forces.

The pathway to the accursed execution tree began with
the footsteps of Judas. A zealot and a Zionist to his innermost
core, Judas loved Israel and longed for the messiah to bring
Israel’s redemption to pass. It was this longing and passion that led
to his ignoble deeds and tortuous end. It also highlighted the
political bribery that sealed the fate of the House of Ananus. It initiated
a tragic series of extra-legal actions by the high priest
that lay transparent the hatred of this wicked and corrupt ruling
aristocratic family, the House of Ananus the Elder, for this
young Rabbi Yehoshua HaNotzri (Jesus the Nazarene).

It was a moonlit night, twenty four hours till full moon.
There an armed military guarded escorted entourage, composed of the chief priests, scribes, elders and
Pharisees, sought the death of Yehoshua. This select group made
their way with lighted torches to the garden on the mount.
There was no need for a betraying kiss or a pointed finger to
identify Jesus. He forestalled His traitor by calmly walking to
meet the guards asking if it was He that they sought.

John 18:3 – “Then Judas,
having received a detachment of troops, and officers from the chief
priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.
Jesus, therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward
and said to them, “Whom are your seeking?”

Lest we forget, Yehoshua was no doubt the most
publicly recognized Jew in Jerusalem. The Galilean pilgrims
were His passionate followers. The Judeans were yearning for a
messiah. With the messianic seeds of the Essenes planted in the minds
of the Jewish peasants as the Essenes lived within their midst,
the populous was ripe for the greatest messianic uprising in Jewish
history. Judas the Zealot was desiring to be on the forefront
of this emotional passion, if not to be the one to initiate this messianic
revolt of freedom for God’s chosen people.

There is no doubt that the security officers of
the high priest already knew who Yehoshua was. He had been preaching,
teaching and healing for three days prior in the temple courtyard to
the point that He was taking the attention away from the Passover
ceremonial festivities. Yehoshua also so impressed the security
officers to the point that they refused to arrest Him and take
Him to the Shammaite Pharisees.

John 7:30, 32, 40-49 – “Therefore they sought to
take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not
yet come…The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things
concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers
to take Him…So there was a division among the people because of Him.

The Garden of
Gat Shemen, where Yehoshua was Arrested – Photo by Robert Mock

Now some of them wanted to take Him, but no one
laid hands on Him. Then the officers came to the chief priests and
Pharisees, who said to them, ‘Why have you not brought Him?” The officers
answered, ‘No man ever spoke like this Man!” then the Pharisees
answered them, “Are you also deceived? Have any of the rulers or
the Pharisees believed in Him? But this crowd does not know the law is
accursed.’”

The entourage of Shammaite Pharisees, scribes, and
scholars of Jewish legal justice were continuously keeping Him under
the spotlight of theological transparency. The divine Pesach Lamb
was being inspected for His halakhic
purity as He lived out His life in Torah living theology.

Yet no arrest could be made unless a Jewish
civilian was there to make the identity to allow them to bring
the accused in for investigation. For the privilege of having
His name cursed for all eternity, Judas the Sicarii and Zealot
betrayed his Master for thirty pieces of silver.

Against all public opinion, the Roman Germanicus
Guard whose headquarters was in Alexandria, Egypt but were barracked
in the Antonia Tower under the command of the Procurator Pontius
Pilate, did not make the arrest of Yehoshua. The arrest
was executed only by the temple private security forcehired
and under the orders of the High Priest Joseph Caiphas and the ruling
ex-high priest and Patriarch of the House of Ananus, Ananus the Elder.
The arrest was illegal under both Jewish Torah and Roman law.

Neither the high priest nor the Sanhedrin had the
power to arrest any Jewish citizen. The legal power of arrest
could only with the order of the Roman Provincial Council in Judea under
the authority of Pontius Pilate, the Procurator. It is interesting that
Joseph of Arimathea was a member of the Roman Provincial Council and had
traveled to Jerusalem for the Passover festival all the way from
the shores of the Mendip tin mines in Cornwall, Britain. He knew
not of the arrest of his nephew.

Looking Down upon the Hinnom Valley from the
Gardens of the Palace of the High Priest along the “Maccabean Pathway”.
Probable route that Yehoshua was taken to the Palace of the High Priest Ananus
and Caiphas – Photo by Robert Mock

Any arrest of a Jewish inhabitant could only be by
the Roman Germanicus Guard, and issued only on the authority
of the Roman governor responding to a recognized complaint. The gospel
narrative was succinct.

John 18:12-13 – “Then the detachment
of troops and the captain and the officers of the Jews arrested
Jesus and bound Him. And they led Him away to Annas first,
for he was the father-in-law of Caiphas who was high priest that year.
Now it was Caiphas who advised the Jews that it was expedient
that one man should die for the people.”

Also contrary to public belief, Yehoshua, though bound,
was not bound up in heavy chains and dragged to the courtyard of
Ananus’ palatial dwelling. As the gospel testimony affirms, Yehoshuaquietly walked between the temple guards for they feared to lay their
hands on Him.

Through the darkness of the night, they headed
from the garden and down into the Kidron Valley. Then they walked
up the same Maccabean path and stairway to the palatial residence of the
High Priest, the same pathway, Yehoshua and His followers traveled a
few hours earlier.

Luke 22:52 – “Then Jesus
said to the chief priests, captains of the temple, and the elders
who had come to Him, ‘Have you come out, as against a
robber, with swords and clubs? When I was with you daily in the
temple, you did not try to seize Me. But this is your hour,
and the power of darkness.’”

Climbing up the
Maccabean Pathway to the Palace of the High Priest – Photo by Robert Mock

Against Roman law, no arrest, nor trial, could be made
in the middle of the night. Neither could any Roman hearings or trials
be madeafter sunset. Not even under emergency circumstances
could a “trial for life” be initiated after dark. Such a trial was
within the exclusive domain of the Roman Provincial Court.

Mishnah
Sanhedrin 4.1 – “In noncapital cases
they hold trial during the daytime and the verdict may be reached
during the night; in capital cases they hold the trial during the
daytime and the verdict must also be reached during the daytime.
In noncapital cases the verdict, whether of acquittal or of
conviction, may be reached the same day; in capital cases a verdict
of acquittal may be reached on the same day, but a verdict of
conviction not until the following day.

Yet it was Ananus the Elder, the formerHigh
Priest of Israel, who began the first proceedings of this extra-ordinary
breach of judicial process in the middle of the evening near
midnight. Here was an act of deliberately flaunting Roman law.
There appears to be no attempt to establish the innocence
of Rabbi Yehoshua or to pursue an acquittal of the charges
against Him. Within the guarded compound of the high priest, there
is every evidence that they assembled a selected group of chief
priests, elders, scribes, and Pharisees, who were in one accord with
the desires of the reigning high priests, Caiphas and Ananus. It was
their intent to establish a legal case against this Rabbi Yehoshua,
so that they could stone or hang Him according to Torah Law.

Mark 14:55-56 – “Now the chief
priests and all the council
sought testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, but found
none. For many bore false witness against Him, but their
testimonies did not agree.

Looking from the Palace of Caiphas and
Ananus the Elder on Mount Zion towards the Mount of Olives (background left)
and the Mount of Offense (foreground right) – Photo by Robert Mock

As the 14th day of Nisan began to break
over the western slopes of the Hills of Moab east of Jerusalem,
Yehoshua was taken to the Council of Hewn Stones. This is where
the Great Sanhedrin met in an emergency setting, near the high
priest’s temple residence. Here Caiphas was staying in ritual
purity for the preparation of the Passover lambs to be eaten in
the Passover Seders by the Jewish pilgrims on Wednesday afternoon,
according to the traditions of the Sadducee’s Temple calendar.

A day later on Thursday afternoon of the 15th
of Nisan, according to the “Double Passover”traditions of
the Jews arriving from Galilee and the Babylonian Diaspora, a
second official Pharisee Passover Seder was approved. Wednesday night, Thursday
night, and Friday night, Yehoshua lay in the tomb.Thursday, Friday, and the Seventh-day Shabbat, Yehoshua
also rested in the tomb. For three days and three nights, Yehoshua
awaited the arrival of His glorious re-appearance.

It
was on the palace of Ananus the Elder that the proceedings began
for a “trial for life”. It was initiated by the ex-officio high
priest of Israel. The initial interrogator was the most potent
enemy of Y Yehoshua, the Patriarch of the feared and often
accursed high priest family, Ananus the Elder. This family came
under the specific condemnation over thirty years later by the Jewish
historian, Flavius Josephus. He investigated the last years of the
Jewish people before the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans in 70 CE.
Concerning Ananus the Elder, Josephus wrote:

The Bottom of
the Isolation Pit where it is believed Yehoshua was Incarcerated beneath the
Palace of Ananus the Elder and the High Priest Joseph Caiphas in Jerusalem – Photo by Robert Mock

Flavius
Josephus – “Now, as soon as Albinus was come to the city
of Jerusalem, he used all his endeavors and care that the country
might be kept in peace, and this by destroying many of the sicarii;
but as for the high priest Ananias, he increased in glory every day, and this
to a great degree, and had obtained the favor and esteem of the citizens
in a signal manner; for he was a great
hoarder up of money: he therefore cultivated the friendship
of Albinus and of the high priest (Jesus/Yeshua), by making
them presents; he also had servants who were very wicked, who
joined themselves to the boldest sort of the people, and went
to the threshing floors, and took away the tithes that belonged
to the priests by violence, and did not refrain from beating
such as would not give these tithes to them. So the other high
priestsacted in the like manner, as did those his
servants, without any one being able to prohibit them; so that
(some of the) priests, that of old were wont to be supported
with those tithes, died for want of food.” (Josephus, Antiquities, XX,ix,2)

During the initial interrogation, the High Priest
Joseph Caiphas was not in the vicinity of the family residence. This
may have served to give him plausible denial and not make him
culpable with the Romans later. Yet, according to the Torah Law, Caiphas
was to have been meditating in his temple residence, bringing
his thoughts in harmony with the Almighty One of Israel. In
the hours before the Pesach lamb was to have been sacrificed, the
high priest was making desperate moves to save his power and
authority from this one minor rabbi that sought to return the
Temple of Herod, Inc. back into a “House of Prayer”.

Matthew 21:13 – “And He
said to them, ‘It is written, “My house shall be called a house
of prayer, but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’”

As archeology would later reveal, the residence of
the High Priest was a palatial palace with many numerous mikvah
baths, pools, and fountains. It was also a fortified residence with
its own security guard including a prison with holding cells for
prisoners and iron racks to bind and hold Yehoshua for beatings
and punishment.

Included
in this interrogation center was an isolation cell as secure and
severe as the feared Mamertine Prison (Tullianum) in Rome where enemies
of Rome such as Jugurtha and Vercingetorix were strangled or
as political prisoners were executed by being thrown off the Tarpeian
Rock. This prison was described by the Roman author Sallust
around 40 BCE as “about twelve feet deep, closed all round by strong
walls and a stone vault. Its aspect is repugnant and fearsome
from its neglect, darkness, and stench.”

The Hole in the Ceiling where Yehoshua was Lowered into the Isolation
Pit in the Basement of the Palace of Caiphas and Ananus the Elder – Photo by Robert Mock

One may get the impression that the Jewish people
were a powerful people in the Roman society. Composing 10% of
the population in all the Roman Empire, the wealth of the empire
of Rome came from the super rich Jews such as the Roman mining
Decurio from Britain called Joseph of Arimathea and the wealthy
grain magnate called Nicodemus. That they both had
residences in Jerusalem and Judea gives thought that the Jewish
influence in Roman economic life was as prominent in Roman
society as it is today in Greco-Roman influenced societies of America
and Europe.

The Jewish religion was a religion of great antiquity
and respected by the Roman government of Augustus Caesar. Though the Jews
were subject to the Roman government, the land of Judea was
also Rome’s breadbasket. The land was fertile with rich farmlands
and large forests in the days of Yehoshua. The Roman government
usually treated its subjects with benign neglect after they had
been truly pacified and willing to work as subjects of Rome.
Yet, the Jews were different. Though use to living under the foreign
governments of Babylon and Persia, the Jews under Rome was sociological
mix bred with fire and brimstone. It was known that the Roman
hatred of the Jewgrew out of the virulent hatred of the Jewish
zealots to Rome. It was Hillel the Great who recognized this effect.

Yet, the moderating attitude of the disciples
of the Great Hillel was no longer felt within the temple culture
in Jerusalem. The disciples of Shammai, the brooding
isolationists that hated all gentiles were in control of the Pharisee
educational system and great fences were being set up around temple
Judaism of Jesus’ day.

It was not the minute
parsing of Torah regulations that cast such a devastating effect
on Jewish society, but the pall of corruption within the temple
priesthood cult. The corruption was so great that the Sons of
Ananus and the Sons of Boethus were virtually hated in Jewish
peasant society. Their servants and slaves were like mad dogs
in abusing the people.

It was not just the savagery of the servants of
the high priest that brought this distain but the desecration of
the Sanctuary and the graft and thievery in the Bazaars of Ananus
alongside the temple that flamed the fury of the Jews in Jerusalem
and Judea. It was popular curse of the peasants and working
class that left this Talmudic testimony of the popular sentiment
of distain for the high priests families that controlled the sacrificial
system of the Temple of Herod.

Talmud, Pesahim 57

“What a plague
is thefamily of Simon Boethus; cursed
be their lances!

What a plague
is thefamily of Ananos; cursed
be their hissing of vipers!

What a plague
is the family ofCantharus; cursed be their pens!

What a plague
is thefamily of Ismael ben Phabi; cursed
be their fists!

They are high
priests themselves, their sons are treasurers,

their sons-in-law
are commanders, and their servants strike people with staves.”

Looking from the
Road heading down the Mount of Olives towards Gethsemane over the Jewish
cemetery, the Kidron Valley (center) towards the Mount of Zion and the Church
of St. Peter in Gallicantu at the site of the Palace of Ananus the Elder and
Caiphas, the high priests (see blue roofed building) – Photo by Robert Mock

To fulfill the commands of the Torah,soon only the
very elite could afford the exorbant prices for the ashes
of the red heifer that were required for ritual purity and proper
Torah observance. The rude poverty of the masses with filth
and hunger and unwashed fringes on their garments were only a
symptom of how low the respect for the Torah had become as
Yehoshua walked among the throngs of the poor and the disenfranchised
of Jewish society.

Within the ancient commands from their God were
the rites for the purification of the entire population, not
just the wealthy and the beautiful. As written in the Torah,
anyone who touched a dead body was ritually unclean. They
were required to cleanse themselves with the sprinkle of the water
which contained even the micro-fragments of the ashes of the
red heifer. Taken from the ritual sacrifice of that rare
mutation of the red cow, only those that did not have more than two
white hairs on their entire red hairy body at the age of two
were proclaimed as pure and acceptable to the God of Israel. The
ashes of red heifer were so priceless that they were a treasure
more valuable than the most costly pearl of great price. The ashes
of the red heifer were treasured as a temple heirloom throughout the
generations. How purification came from such a ritual was
a scientific mystery that even the great wisdom of Solomon could not
understand. All Jews, regardless of wealth, were equal in the
eyes of God and so they equally had access to this national
treasure.

According to traditions, until the House of Ananus
had virtual possession of the office of the high priest of Israel,
the ashes of the red heifer were available to rich and poor alike.
Soon these “ashes” like the office of the high priest went for
the price of the highest bidder. Only the very elite, the wealthy,
and the powerful were able to touch the dead and be cleansed
of their impurity. The rest of the masses of people would be segregated
and denied from access to their God. The poor mothers of
Israel would have to remain unclean, not able to purify
their bodies of the blood of their offspring by the purification
sacrifice. Even the price of the doves, for the purification
offering for the first born, were raised to such astronomical
prices that many daughters of the Holy One would be left out,
unclean.

Their cry against the Sadducean priests, carried down
through the centuries in the verses in the Talmud, were only
a vague echo of the intense passion and hatred of the people.

This impending trial of Jesus revealed two facts by
the extra judicial acts of the House of Ananus against Yehoshua.
It revealed the fear of the temple leadership to Yehoshua
for they “feared the people” who were followers of Him.

The high priest was desperate to push this trial
with the greatest speed because of Caiphas’ insecurity by the great
popularity of the Nazarene with the Jewish pilgrims arriving in
Jerusalem for the festivals from Galilee. It also suggested that
Caiphas, the high priest, had some secret intelligence
concerning the Roman procurator with prior intrigues and covert
attacks against the Caesar of Rome that would prevent any
retaliation by the Roman Procurator Pontius Pilate.

The Interior of the Church of St. Peter at
Gallicantu – Photo by Robert Mock

To accomplish what did happen on that dayof
Passover were the acts of desperation, collusion, and conspiracy. It
took all the forces of the families of the controlling elite to bring
about the event that they hoped would topple the magnetic spell
of Yehoshua in the land. It would be a conspiracy that would
include many in the great aristocratic families of the Sadducean
oligarchs of Judaism.

If we were disciples of Yehoshua
in first century Judea, the city of Jerusalem would have looked
much different. There on the southeastern slopes of Mount Zion arethe archeological remains of one of the finest palatial
residences in Jerusalem. Nestled in the heart of the wealthy and
elite sector of Jerusalem, was the home of the wealthiest family in Jerusalem.Outside this residence was an austere nondescript exterior that
was constructed by blocks of Jerusalem stone.

The Site of the Palace of the High Priests Ananus and his
son0in-law Caiphas, now the Church of St. Peter at Gallicantu – Photo by Robert Mock

It was not one house
but a series of homes, offices, courtyards, gardens, and an elaborate
number of ritual mikvah baths. Along side was a sentry
watchtower with a turreted tower. It actually was a fortified
residence with its own special guard detachment with barracks with
underground prisoner cells and interrogation chambers.

The palatial residence
of the Sadducean high priestly family called the House of Ananus
was the most powerful and feared family in Judea. The residence was
connected to the temple complex by an overhead causeway,
whose archeological remains can be seen today. This is where the
powerful elite and the wealthy returned to their homes from the temple.
It was also where the members of the Sanhedrin, officials of the high priest
court, and the high priest family could traverse in safety to the
temple and its courtyards without becoming in contact with the
masses of people below.

Inside the palace was
not just a residence but a hidden government within the temple
aristocratic government. Inside the outer gate was an external
courtyard paved in white marble and encircled about with official
buildings in service to the High Priest; tax collectors, administration
offices, and courtiers in service to the court of the House
of Ananus.

Soon
to arrive in this courtyard would be the two disciples of Rabbi Yehoshua;
Simon bar Jonas, later called the Apostle Simon Peter, and Yohannes,
later called the Apostle John. It was John whom the textual
evidence suggests that he may have been a Levite who apparently
had inside connections with the family of the high priest. Yet the evidence
later may even suggest a more profound identity of the “other
disciple” that Simon Peter followed.

John 18:15-16 – “And Simon Peter followed
Jesus, and so did another disciple (John). Now that disciple was
known to the high priest, and went with Jesus into the courtyard
of the high priest. But Peter stood at the door outside. Then
the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out
and spoke to her who kept the door, and brought Peter in.
Then the servant girt who kept the door said to Peter, ‘You
are not also one of this man’s disciples, are you? He said, ‘I
am not.’ Now the servants and officers who had made a fire of
coals stood there, for it was cold, and they warmed themselves.
And Peter stood with them and warmed himself.”

The Floor where Jesus was Lowered into the
Isolation Pit awaiting His Sanhedrin Trial – Photo by Robert Mock

So began the trilogy of
denials that soon crucified the old Simon from Galilee and resurrected
the new spiritual Peter within. Here is where the Apostle Peter
began a new life as an international emissary for his Master Yehoshua.

When we dissect the testimony
of the author of the Gospel of John, we begin to understand
that Ananus was seeking or procuring witnesses during the initial
accusation phase of the interrogations. The disciple, Simon Peter
was brought into the residence of the high priest by “another
disciple” that was known to the high priest.Simon Peter was soon
released as an “unreliable” witness with the mixed testimonies
that he rendered so had to wait the outcome of the
interrogations in the outer porch or the “place of the blowing
(beth chatser) along with the temple guards and servants of the
high priest. Yet, the “other disciple”, Yohanan Eleazar, known to
us as Lazarus, was a member of the Sanhedrin, yet apparently he
was not to be a part of the criminal court, and was privileged
to watch the entire trial proceedings as an inside observer.
He later gave his testimony with these words:

John
21:24 – “This is the disciple who testifies of these
things, and wrote these things; and we know that his
testimony is true.”

Inside the outer court
was the inner courtyard of the palace. Here in true oriental fashion
was the private residence of Ananus the Elder plus the residence of
each of his five sons plus his daughters and their families. It was
one of these daughters whose husband, Joseph Caiphas, was the current
reigning high priest of Israel. Nearby was a smaller court
where the rooms for the specially selected private bodyguards for
the entire House of Ananus were housed.

Whereas the outside of the palace was
nondescript, the inside of the private residence was a
paradise. In the inner court were the gardens of the High Priest
where the air was a mixture of intoxicating scents and aromas
of flowering trees and gardens surrounding swimming pools.

Nearby was a park
laid out with the tall cypress, outlined with flowering
oleanders of pinks, red, and yellows and the flowering ethrog
(citron) trees that surrounded the pools of waters. Highlighted
was a rose garden, the favorite flower of the Jerusalem
aristocracy with brilliant cascading mounds with a million shades
of color.

During the hot
summer days when the hot parching winds blew in from the Dead Sea
and the wilderness wadis to the east of Jerusalem, water
became a luxury item. The populous of Jerusalemlined the
troughs for the meager trickle of water coming down from the
Gihon Spring to the pool of Siloah. The water skins carried
by the water carriers to the more affluent were easily stolen
by the parched residents desperate for nourishment during the days
when the hot sandy airfilled the sky.

In
contrast, within the court of the high priest, fountains of bronzed
lions spouting with dancing waters, were artistically placedwithin
and surrounding the pools. Special lead pipes, whose lead and
tin were mined by Jewish Saracens in the Cornwall region of
Britain, took the water from the temple to the gardens of Ananus.
They lay along side of pipes bringing the blood of the
sacrifices of the lambs and oxen from the temple for fertilizer
for the soil. The gardens, though ritually contaminated with
the blood of the animals, bloomed with a rare richness and
radiancerarely seen in any horticultural paradise. Surrounding
the pools were nests for flocks of white turtledoves.

The Security Observation Deck looking down into the Isolation
Pit where Yehoshua may have been Imprisoned – Photo by Robert Mock

Inside the home were marbled
stairways leading to hallways of Corinthian columns with cedar
beams supported by the capitals of these majestic columns. Surrounding
the halls were tapestries and mosaics of fine wood,
all engraved, embroidered, or interwoven with Jewish religious
symbols. Beyond the hall of columns was the great reception hall,
the de-facto throne of Jerusalem, for within this one residence
resided three high priests, Ananus the Elder, his son Eleazar,
and son-in-law, Caiphas, with their families. Within the same
residence, the future high priests were being groomed; Jonathan,
Theophilus, and the most articulate, brash and brilliant, Ananus the
Younger.

The dining hall of
the familyoverlooked one of the most beautiful vistas in
the whole city. The temple of Herod to the northeast, in all
its glory, rose like an eleven story building from the Kidron
Valley. Across the ravine of the Kidron Valley rose the majestic
Mount of Olives with a northern and the southern eminence, the later
called the Mount of Offense. It was actually on the Mount of
Offense that gave the best view of ancient Jerusalem, for it
being directly east of the old city of David to the south of the
Gihon Springs. It was this same mount that commanded an opposing central
view from the dining terrace of this priestly family.

The Prisoner
Cells below the Palace of Caiphas and Ananus the Elder – Photo by Robert Mock

Today this monumental
residential palace of Ananus the Elder has been located and
archeologically excavated. It was first mentioned in the historical
texts by the Jewish Pilgrim from Bordeaux,
who in 333 CE visited the city of Jerusalem and later wrote his
memoirs. Here he recounted traveling from the Pool of Siloa over
to Mount Zion where in route one would come across the house of
Caiphas the High Priest.

Anonymous
Pilgrim from Bordeaux – “Also as you come out of Jerusalem to go
up Mount Sion, on the left hand, below in the valley, beside
the wall, is a pool which is called Siloe and has four
porticoes; and there is another large pool outside it. This spring
runs for six days and nights, but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath,
it does not run at all, either by day or by night.

On this
side one goes up Sion, and sees where the house of Caiaphas the priest was, and there still stands
a column against which Christ was beaten with rods. Within, however,
inside the wall of Sion, is seen the place where was David's palace.
Of seven synagogues which once were there, one alone remains;
the rest are ploughed over and sown upon, as said Isaiah the prophet(Isaiah 1:2.4-8; Micah 3:9-12).”

Over and around the archeological
remains of rock cut dwellings, cellars, cisterns, prison houses, isolation
chambers and stables is a remarkable basilica of contemporary and
ancient lines, called the Church of Saint
Peter in Gallicantu. It was constructed by the French
monastic order called the Assumptionists in 1933 to commemorate
the site where the Apostle Peter denied Jesus three times.

Beneath the basilica
are a series of ancient grottos which appear to be prisoner
cells. These include iron bolt impressions in stone where a prisoner
was bound with his hands above his head outstretched while beaten and
tortured. In the center was a deep isolation chamber with a solitary
hole above to lower the prisoner from the ceiling of the
isolation pit with a rope hammock. This also included an
observation window for guards to keep watch over their prisoner
below.

Christian
and Jewish Messianic followers of Yehoshua both attest that it is believed
that here Yehoshua was kept in isolation after his arrest.
It was also here that the interrogation by Ananus the Elder, the chief
priests, scribes and Shammaite Pharisees, who sought His death, was
conducted in the darkness of the hours after midnight.

Mural of Jesus being Lowered in the
Isolation Pit – Photo by Robert Mock

About six hours later,
He was raised from the isolation pit and sent over to the Sanhedrin
for trial the next morning. As the hours after midnight wore on, Rabbi
Yehoshua was at themercy of the hired servants and security
detail hidden beneath the residence above of the high priest.

Luke 22:63-65
– “Now the men who held Jesus mocked Him and beat Him. And
having blindfolded Him, they struck Him on the face, and asked
Him, saying, ‘Prophecy! Who is the one who struck You? And many
other things they blasphemously spoke against Him.”

Unable to extract any
implicating testimony from Yehoshua nor able to find two
recognizable witnesses with collaborating and converging testimony
against Him, the prosecution case appeared to falter. The gospel
testimonies suggest that Caiphas was not a part of the early
midnight interrogation in the palatial residence. He was
required to remain on the temple court in a purified state during
the Passover celebration.

What is known is that
Yehoshua was arrested without charge, taken for interrogation
in a private residence, imprisoned, assaulted, and abused with
torture in order to extract damaging evidence against Him. John
the Beloved was the only disciple who had security access to the residence
of Ananus the Elder. The Apostles John’s testimony, we find interesting:

John
18:19-24 –“The High Priest (Ananus the Elder) then asked
Jesus about His disciples and His doctrine. Jesus answered him,

Yehoshua
HaNotzri - ‘I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in
synagogues and in the temple, where the Jew always meet, and in
secret I have said nothing. Why do you ask Me?Ask those
who have heard Me what I said to them, Indeed they know what I
said.’

And when He had said these things, one
of the officers who stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his
hand, saying, ‘Do You answer the high priest like that?’
Jesus answered him ‘If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil,
but if well, why do you strike Me?’”

The Inner Prison Courtyard Caves with
Isolation Pit beneath the Palace of Caiphas and Ananus the Elder – Photo by Robert Mock

Somewhere after the
midnight arrest, the temple guards with the temple elite who
sought Yehoshua’s death, arrived in the House of Ananus
to define the prosecutorial testimony against Yehoshua. He was arraigned
and interned in the cells below where He was beaten with their
hands and then cast into the isolation pit below. The word was
sent out to the entire Sanhedrin at this time that an emergency
meeting was to convene before the break of dawn.

Luke, the historian,
carefully mentions the story of Simon bar Jonah
(Peter) in the courtyard of the “high priest’s house”. What
is not stated, is that this palatial residence was the family
home of the entire House of Ananus on the southeastern ridge
of the Mount called Zion. The evening was cold, not unlike
the spring of 2007 where snow covered the city of Jerusalem up to the
early part of April. The secret interrogation proceedings in the residence
were not discussed in Luke’s history, except for the identity
crisis of the “brave” Galilean bodyguard of Yehoshua, Simon
Peter, who so valiantlyfought in an armed struggle for Yehoshua,
and cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant. He was now
fearfully sitting around the outer courtyard fireplace when his identity
was recognized three times by servants and accomplices of the high
priest. With fear stricken eyes, he denied knowing his Master,
three times. As the rooster crowed at the break of dawn, a new
spiritual Peter arose from his moral execution to a new identity
with his Lord.

It was John, the “disciple
that was known to the high priest”(John
18:15) and could only give a first hand testimony of this evening,
who wrote:

John
18:12-13 – “Then the detachment of troops and the captain and the
officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound Him. And they led
Him away to Annas first, for he was the father-in-law of Caiphas who
was high priest that year.

Later, John
documented that after Jesus was kept in the darkness of the night
in the palace of the high priests, He was again transported to another
location.

John
18:24 – “Then Annas sent Him bound to Caiphas the high priest.”

We now know that the high
priest was still at the temple, in preparation for the upcoming Pesach
festival, or else He would have been ritually contaminated. In an impure
state, he would have been unable to preside as the high priest at
the slaying of the Pesach Lamb.

Israeli guide Depicting how Prisoner’s Hand
were Strapped to Iron Rings in the Holes Above while they were Beaten and
Tortured – Photo by Robert Mock

Luke and Matthew bring
more details to the story, with the following historical details of the
transportationnot just to Caiphas, the high priest, but to
the “Council”, or the Great Sanhedrin in the Chamber of Hewn Stones,
for trial.

Luke
22:66 – “As soon as it was day, the elders of the people,
both chief priests and scribes, came together and led Him into
their council …”

Matthew
27:1 – “When morning came, all the chief priests and elders
of the peopleplotted against Jesus to put Him to death.”

It was here that the Great
Sanhedrin sat in judgment in trial of this Galilean Rabbi
called Yehoshua HaNotzri (Jesus the Nazarene). It was a remarkable
event in judicial history that occurred that morning.

BibleSearchers scans the
world for information that has relevance on the time of the end. It is
our prayer that this will allow the believers in the Almighty One of Israel to
“watch and be ready”. Our readiness has nothing to do trying to halt the
progression of evil on our planet earth. In our readiness, we seek to be
prepared for the coming of the Messiah of Israel so that goodness and evil will
be manifested in its fullest. Our preparation is a pathway of spiritual
readiness for a world of peace. Our defender is the Lord of hosts. The
time of the end suggests that the Eternal One of Israel’s intent is to close
out this chapter of earth’s history so that the perpetrators of evil, those
that seek power, greed and control, will be eliminated from this planet
earth. The wars of the heavens are being played out on this planet earth
and humans will live through it to testify of the might, power, justice and the
love of the God of Israel. In a world of corruption and disinformation,
we cannot always know what the historical truth is and who is promoting evil or
mis-information. We cannot guarantee our sources but we will always seek
to portray trends that can be validated in the Torah and the testimony of the
prophets of the Old and the New Testament.

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